The priority for McGill students? Money

“Why did McGill get rid of the Tim Hortons in the basement of Redpath just to replace it with an overpriced dessert place? It’s not as if we suddenly have a craving for macaroons during the finals.” — Posting on the McGill community Facebook group.

“Why did McGill get rid of the Tim Hortons in the basement of Redpath just to replace it with an overpriced dessert place? It’s not as if we suddenly have a craving for macaroons during the finals.”

— Posting on the McGill community Facebook group.

At last count, this comment has received close to 1,000 likes. It seems the student population cherished their Timbits and 24-hour java flow. The fact that the food service team favours a local enterprise and a decrease in doughnuts seems lost on a group of students used to their Timmies fix. And yet the word “overpriced” in that posting might be the most telling.

Speaking with three McGill students this week about food on campus, the word “price” came up often.

“The $2 bagel at Tim Hortons was my comfort food,” fourth-year Arts student Zoe Holl said this week between classes. “It was well-located, always open. I’m worried that the new place will be expensive.”

Holl, along with fellow student Faustine Rohr, arrived at McGill from Paris in 2011, starting out at the Royal Victoria College (RVC) residence. “The choice and quality of food here is much better than what we were served in Paris at our school canteen,” says Rohr, “which was supposed to be one of the best in the city. But meals are much less expensive at universities in France. There is very little choice, but you can get a three-course lunch for 3 euros.”

In search of cheaper alternatives, Holl, Rohr and masters student Ines Talaz discovered Midnight Kitchen, a vegan/vegetarian buffet run by students out of the Shatner Building downtown. It offers free lunches, after an initial $3 fee. “It’s a revolution,” says Holl, who describes the quinoa, rice, beans and cake offerings as good, but bland. You bring your own plates and it’s cooked by students, but it’s a service based on donations, so cost for students is minimal.

Holl and Rohr came away with few complaints about their experience with McGill’s full-board meal plan during their freshman year. “Frankly, it was great,” says Rohr. “There was lots of choice. When we spoke to friends at other universities, they were astounded by what we were getting.”

Food played a role in their on-campus lives even before they arrived. “It has become a big thing when you apply to universities to check out their meal plan,” says Holl. “When I applied to McGill, I found out through a second-year student that RVC had the best food and everyone knows it.”

Since arriving at McGill from her native Belgium, Talaz has been contacted by many prospective students equally concerned about on-campus eating. “Whenever international students ask me about McGill,” she says, “one of their first questions is, ‘Where can I find the best food?’ McGill has a big reputation to live up to, not just academically but for student life.”

The students admit they fell prey to the dreaded “freshman 15” weight gain. Says Holl: “I don’t know a single girl who didn’t gain weight the first year, though all our guy friends lost weight. There were all these good, fatty foods in front of us. Yes, I ate Lucky Charms for breakfast. The curly fries were amazing. Coming from France, we didn’t have a lot of that stuff. I was eating peanut butter from the jar in my room.”

Despite the feasting, the university’s emphasis on local foods isn’t lost on the students.

“The fact that they sell apples from the Mac Farm is really cool,” says Holl.

“There’s this sense of community, you’re proud that it came from your school.” Holl had praise for an occasional farmer’s market on McTavish St. that sells produce from the Macdonald farm and foods from Québécois producers. “Even the fact that they closed the Timmies in favour of a Première Moisson shows great initiative.”

Though all three are planning on checking out the new Quesada Mexican restaurant in the Bronfman Building and yearn for time between classes to see what the food trucks are selling, they now all live off campus and usually cook for themselves.

The one thing they miss most during their studies at McGill is a homey ambience around their meals. “We always tried to eat as a group in the cafeteria to make it feel like home,” says Rohr.

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